A conventional gaming table used for playing Twenty-One and other similar casino games has a plurality of player locations around the outer periphery of the table and a dealer's location located generally opposite the player locations. From the dealer's location, the dealer of the game effects the operation of the game including dealing of the cards, paying winning wagers and collecting losing wagers.
One important function performed by the dealer is making change for the players. Most casinos would prefer that the players use tokens or chips to make their wagers, rather than currency. The player generally obtains the tokens or chips from the dealer in exchange for currency and all winning wagers are paid in tokens or chips.
A conventional gaming table has a chip rack located adjacent the dealer's location which is filled with the various denomination of tokens or chips that are used in the game. As the game proceeds, losing wagers that are collected are placed in the chip rack and winning wagers are paid using these same chips.
During the course of play, the chip rack may run low and the house performs a "fill" of the chip rack. This entails security and supervisory personnel to obtain the necessary variety of tokens or chips needed and to bring them to the dealer for the filling of the chip rack. In order to maintain accounting requirements and to ensure proper auditing and security, the game must be interrupted while the fill is taking place. The dealer verifies the amount of tokens or chips that are being placed in the chip rack and both the dealer and the supervisory personnel sign receipts acknowledging that a fill has taken place. While casino personnel are generally well versed in the procedures involved in making a fill, the procedure can take as much as five minutes and is most distracting and disruptive to the players.
Because of this inconvenience, casinos would prefer to keep the time disruptions for fills to a minimum and a typical Twenty-One game will only require a fill on the average of every two hours. The size of the chip rack is limited by the size of the table and by security requirements limiting the amount of chips that are exposed in the chip rack due to the fact that the chips have monetary value.
Casino games have been developed that utilize tokens or chips that are placed into a coin slot in the surface of the gaming table to indicate that the player is participating in the game or a particular feature of the game. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041, Jones et al., discloses a method of progressive jackpot gaming that involves a typical casino or cardroom game modified to include a progressive jackpot component. During the play of a Twenty-One game, for example, in addition to his normal wager, a player will have the option of making an additional wager that becomes part of, and makes the player eligible to win, the progressive jackpot. If the player's Twenty-One hand comprises a particular, predetermined arrangement of cards, the player will win all or part of the amount showing on the progressive jackpot. This progressive jackpot feature is also adaptable to other casino or cardroom games such as Draw Poker, Stud Poker, Lo-Ball Poker or Caribbean Stud.RTM. Poker.
The apparatus used in this type of game comprises a gaming table, such as those used for Twenty-One or poker, modified with the addition of a token, chip or coin slot that is electronically connected to a progressive jackpot meter. When a player drops a token, chip or coin into the coin slot and it is recognized by a coin detection device, a light is activated at the player's location indicating that he is participating in the progressive jackpot component of the game during that hand. At the same time, a signal from the coin detector is sent to the progressive meter to increment the amount shown on the progressive meter. At the conclusion of the play of each hand, the coin detector is reset for the next hand. When a player wins all or part of the progressive jackpot, the amount showing on the progressive jackpot meter is reduced by the amount won by the player. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041 is hereby incorporated by reference.
The token, chip or coin that is placed into the coin slot and passes through the coin detector falls down a conduit and into a bucket placed on the interior of the gaming table. At designated times during the day, casino personnel collect the tokens, chips or coins that have fallen into the bucket and the empty bucket is replaced on the interior of the gaming table.
The players will purchase the tokens, chips or coins that are used in the coin slot from the dealer who maintains his supply of these tokens, chips or coins in the chip rack. However, unlike during the play of the regular game in which tokens or chips are continually cycling into and out of the chip rack as the players win or lose, the tokens, chips or coins used in the coin slots only come out of the chip rack. The wagered tokens, chips or coins placed into the coin slot fall into the buckets on the interior of the gaming table and are not available for recycling back to the player.
Whatever supply of tokens, chips or coins is initially available in the chip rack for use in the coin slots will be quickly exhausted and the casino personnel will be required to effect a "fill" of the chip rack to replenish the supply. Fills will be much more frequent in this type of game causing additional inconvenience to the players and to the casino which must interrupt the game to effect the fill.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that allows for the recycling of the tokens, chips or coins that are used in the play of a live casino table game.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus that collects wagered tokens, chips or coins that are dropped through a coin slot on the surface of a gaming table and a control system that allows the collection device to be activated to feed these tokens, chips or coins back into the chip rack as needed to refill the chip rack.
It is a further feature of the invention to provide a modified chip rack that can receive tokens, chips or coins fed to the chip rack from a collection device located on the interior of the gaming table.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the need for frequent fills of the chip rack can be minimized in live casino table games that utilize tokens, chips or coins dropped through a coin slot in the surface of the gaming table during the play of the game. The house will experience a savings in personnel time since the need for numerous fills will be eliminated. The house will also experience a savings in connection with the expense of the paperwork processing associated with each fill including internal accounting personnel time and the cost of the fill slips themselves, which must be on a form approved by the gaming authorities for the jurisdiction involved.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that a supply of tokens, chips or coins that are used in the coin slot on the surface of the gaming table is always available to the dealer without the necessity of the casino personnel undertaking the steps necessary to coordinate a "fill" of the chip rack.